A Treat
by Virodeil
Summary: For B2MeM 2012 Day 4. … A balm, really, when your father has just spat at your effort in front of his council of advisors – again. And a true delight also, since your big brother knows what you love most – yes?


Title: A Treat  
>Author: Eärillë<p>

Number: I22  
>Challenge: Emotions: Ecstasy<p>

Summary:  
>… A balm, really, when your father has just spat at your effort in front of his council of advisors – again. And a true delight also, since your big brother knows what you love most – yes?<p>

Rating: G  
>Warnings: first draft<p>

Characters: Boromir, Faramir  
>Genres: Alternate Universe, Family, Fluff<br>Place: Dol Amroth: a nameless bay  
>Timeline: Third Age: before the Ring War<br>Word Count (in MS Word): 602

Notes: The AU label up there is because the author is uncertain if the brothers had ever visited Dol Amroth after their mother's death and before the Ring War or not. Also, this piece is a short fluffy nonsense, so please don't expect much from it. And the first part of the piece is just a string of conversation between the brothers, with the second part being a direct peek into Faramir's mind in particular.

**A Treat**

"Look there – dolphins!"

"Well, I don't know why you are always so interested in them, but I do confess I like you when you are not all gloomy and doleful."

"Speak for yourself, brother. You are always the stern and 'doomish' man that most young ladies both adore and shy from."

"If you tease me more, this boat will never reach the destination and I shan't bring you there ever again."

"Can't you be a nice older brother for once?"

"Well, I do have my image to maintain you know, little Mírë."

"Hey! You know I hate that silly nickname!"

"Payback, little Mírë, payback."

The oft-described gorgeous bay is coming into view, and I can see why Boromir loves it so. In this sheltered cove, colourful fishes and underwater plantlife thrive like in no other place I have ever visited before, with or without my brother. It is like the heaven of underwater life a surprisingly-friendly Harad merchant described to me once when I was a child and sneaking away from my nanny's watch. I can feel excitement bubbling up my chest and tightening my throat, tugging the edges of my lips into a wide beam. Boromir, who occasionally glances back to where I am perched, now locks gazes with me, and I got to see the rare warm laughter that enliven his brooding eyes to the point of no recognition. It has been long since last he looks so happy, so content, and with a start I also realise that I have not smile like this for just as long.

Impulsively, I leap over the boat's rear bench and capture him in a bear hug. "Thank you," I whisper fervently. Then, before he can tease me about it, I quickly shrug off my clothes and sandals, feeling like my heart would leap out of my chest any time soon from sheer delight. My childhood dream—! It comes true at last, and I do not care that Father called me an incompetent weakling at his council a couple days ago, or that my brother is laughing his booming belly-laugh now at what I am doing. I feel like wanting to laugh raucously myself, wanting to let out some of the excess joy, wanting to let my brother know that his effort is highly appreciated, wanting to acknowledge that I might be acting just a bit silly right now, but somehow nothing passes my throat save the muscle-feeling that I am screaming on the top of my lungs without noise.

But at last, as I am leaping over the edge of the boat, the invisible plug on my throat vanishes and I let out a delighted whoop. Water, at last! And I am sharing it only with my beloved brother, as nobody but the close relatives of our uncle Imrahil knows and nobody else is in this trip except us. I do not have to pay attention to my decorum here, and I do not have to fore-brace an oncoming mockery or ridicule from anyone. And the little fat orange-striped fish bobbing after me near the colourful corals is just as cute as the Harad merchant once said…

I return to the surface after a moment, feeling another surge of delight when my head breaks the waves. (The Anduin, as great as it is, cannot compare with the delight of the open sea.) Having taken an insufficient amoung of air before I dove, I am now gasping for the much-needed sustenance. But somehow, I cannot stop beaming, and my brother perched on the boat there never lets down his dratted laughter…


End file.
